Maynard High students present ‘Peter and the Starcatcher’

Wednesday

Mar 22, 2017 at 3:54 PMMar 22, 2017 at 3:54 PM

“Peter and the Starcatcher” opened at Maynard High School on March 18. Performances will continue on March 24-26, with Friday and Saturday performances at 7 p.m. and Sunday performances at 2 p.m. at Maynard High School, 1 Tiger Drive.Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for seniors/students and are available at the Maynard High School ticket booth and online http://mktix.com/mhsm. Visit http://mhstheater.org/ticket-and-show-information for more details.MHS’s production of “Peter and the Starcatcher” opened to a nearly full house. This show is a prequel to the classic “Peter Pan” story, and the students were very excited to begin their opening weekend.Freshman Pat O’Neil’s performance of Peter exemplified the hard work he has put into making this show. Peter is an orphan who grows into a hero.“It’s nice to see the characters and the story finally come together,” he said. “We’ve all put so much hard work into it.”Maddie Bottasso is a junior who plays Molly Aster. Her wide-eyed and enthusiastic performance of her character brought out the maturity of her acting.“I love playing this character, and I’m excited to jump into my second weekend of performances,” Bottasso said.Charlie Neuhauser, a sophomore, shined in this production. He plays the pirate Black Stache, who is the ultimate villain in this story.“Stache is such a fun character to portray,” he said. “My favorite scene is when I get into a interesting situation and go insane.”Nearly 100 Maynard High students are involved in the cast and crew of the play, which is about one-fifth of the entire school’s student population.“It’s really cool how there’s a lot of younger kids getting into the shows,” said junior Katie Duggan, who plays a pirate. “They’ve seen the shows when they were younger, and now they get to be in them.”The show opens in the late 1800s, with sailors and pirates swarming the stage on their ships. The story is told through the eyes of many different characters, all focusing on obtaining one thing: a trunk of magical “starstuff” that gives one magical abilities.Along with these pirates and sailors, there are the inhabitants of Mollusk Island who capture Peter and his friends and try to feed them to the vicious crocodile, Mister Grin. They are ruled by Fighting Prawn, played by sophomore Lucas Pepin. This is Pepin’s fourth Maynard High show, and he is thrilled to come back again as a giant shrimp.“The character is so weird, but it’s amazing what confidence and a cool costume can do to a part,” he said.Sophomore Zoe Pepin, Lucas Pepin’s sister, plays Fighting Prawn’s son, Hawking Clam. She has been involved in theater for a long time as well.“‘Peter and the Starcatcher’ has a lot of interesting and different characters,” she said. “My favorite thing about being in this play is creating a different world with my friends.”Alongside the Mollusk royalty, there is Teacher the mermaid, played by senior Delia Donovan. This is her second production, as she was in “Grease” last year. Teacher gives advice to the soon-to-be Peter Pan.“I’m somewhat like my character because I like helping others by giving advice,” she said. “It’s exciting to be a part of this show where we learn the full story [of Peter Pan].”The giant cast is costumed head to toe by head costumer Jennifer Cook, who also is the producer of “Peter and the Starcatcher.” Cook and numerous parent volunteers have come together to dress pirates, native islanders and mermaids.“We’re all coming together,” said freshman Maeve McCarthy, who plays a mermaid. “It’s so cool to hang out with kids that I don’t normally talk to.”In addition to the set designers, set builders, painters and prop makers, there are around 30 students in the tech and stage crew.“[The show] has literally improved 110 percent,” said junior Grace Dineen, a tech crew member. “Even though there were mistakes, everyone pulled it off and sounded good.”Choreographer Jan Gallagher and music director Joe Camara have both been involved in the Maynard High School theater productions for many years. This is Gallagher’s tenth show.“‘Peter and the Starcatcher’ is filled with lively dancing and music, even a mermaid kickline,” Gallagher said.“I really wanted to choose a show where we could make sure that everyone had something important to do,” said director Cindy Blanchard, referring to the 70 cast members in the show.“It was a crazy show to wrap my head around at first, but the little hat tips and references to ‘Monty Python,’ ‘Les Mis,’ and even a ‘70s commercial really make the play shine,” she said.Blanchard is blown away by the talent of all the students.“To see [the students] gracefully get over all of these obstacles is pretty epic, and the students have really stepped up with their responsibility,” she said.